The European Central Bank is preparing for an interest rate hike before the end of this year.

Members of the European Central Bank (ECB) have started to look more positively at raising interest rates above zero before the end of this year. Evaluating the 25 basis point interest rate hike in July, the ECB management council stated that they could make at least two additional interest rate hikes at the same rate before January.

In a statement last week, the Governor of the Bank of France considered the possibility of interest rates rising above zero before the end of this year as “reasonable.”

Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), announced that the ECB could raise interest rates at the beginning of the third quarter of this year. “The first rate hike will occur sometime after net asset purchases end and could be just a few weeks later,” Lagarde said.